Concerned with the writing and designing of computer manuals that enable users to remember the information presented within them, this study addresses two key questions: (1) whether people remember material longer if they are tested on it immediately after they learn it; and (2) what material they remember (and forget) after a week or month without practice. The study proceeded in three sessions; in the first session, novice computer users were trained on a section of a computer manual and then were tested immediately after the training. The second and third sessions re-tested the subjects 1 week and 1 month later, respectively. Results indicate that people best remember commands with associated mnemonics, commands discussed in detail, and commands presented first or last, supporting the primacy/regency notion of cognitive psychology. Conclusions provide five recommendations for document writers and two recommendations for document and computer designers to increase user retention of material. Five appendices include instructors' comments, excerpts from the manual, and three computer use tests. (JB)